Congrats to Cam Zink, an old guy (24!) with a lot of metal in his body, who pulled off the first-ever “Slopestyle Slam” by winning (the return of) the Red Bull Rampage after taking home gold at the Kokanee Crankworx in Whistler in August. Zink also won Red Bull’s best trick comp. This is the equivalent to baseball’s Triple Crown and tennis’ Grand Slam, winning the top titles in the same season. Zink won Rampage with a 360 off the monster ramp. The drop itself was intimidating, but pulling a 360 (full rotation) at that height requires precision timing and contact control. Interestingly, the progenitor of the Big Drop 360, Darren Berrecloth, finished third despite a trick 3 of his own.

]]>http://bikeintelligencer.com/2010/10/cam-zink-wins-return-of-red-bull-rampage/feed/0Continued Thoughts on Crankworx Slopestyle Judginghttp://bikeintelligencer.com/2010/08/continued-thoughts-on-crankworx-slopestyle-judging/
http://bikeintelligencer.com/2010/08/continued-thoughts-on-crankworx-slopestyle-judging/#commentsThu, 19 Aug 2010 18:17:44 +0000http://bikeintelligencer.com/?p=4251Taking nothing away from Cam Zink, his winning ride video at Whistler’s Kokanee Crankworx shows that the most significant factor in slopestyle judging has to do with staying on the bike. The good part of this is that riders who finish out rather than go too big ultimately get rewarded. The bad part is that it discourages riders from going big.

A possible partial solution: If you weight points on tricks attempted, even if they fail, Slopestyle judging might prove a bit more exciting and the results a lot closer. Both competitors and fans would benefit from that.